It is a little known fact that Arizona held
status as a Territory of the Confederate States of America during that nationís
unsuccessful war for independence. Easily the most important man in the story of
the Confederate Territory of Arizona was John Robert Baylor, who created the
Territory by proclamation on August 1, 1861, and served as its governor during
the entire period of its existence. This is his story.

John Robert Baylor

Lt. Colonel, 2nd
Texas Mounted Rifles

Confederate Governor of Arizona

John Robert Baylor was born in Paris, Bourbon
County, Kentucky, on July 27, 1822. His parents were Dr. John Walker Baylor and
his wife Sophie Marie Weidner Baylor. Baylorís father was a U.S. Army Surgeon
who had served in the Black Hawk War and was later stationed at Fort Gibson,
Indian Territory.1

In 1833 Dr. Baylor left the army and moved,
with his family, to Second Creek, near Natchez, Mississippi. Two years later
(May 25, 1835), young John and his brother, Henry, were sent off to Cincinnati,
Ohio to attend school at Woodward College. They were to remain in that school
for over two years, and it was while they were away at school (on January 30,
1836) that their father died in Mississippi.

Shortly after the Baylor boys returned from
Ohio in 1837, the now widowed Sophie Baylor took the family to Little Rock,
Arkansas, where her widowed daughter had opened a boarding house. John was not
to remain there long, however, for the Texas frontier was calling him.

In 1840, the now 18-year-old John and his
brother Henry moved to Texas, settling on the farm owned by their uncle, William
M. Baylor, near La Grange. Soon after his arrival John had one of those
experiences that shapes oneís future life. In early August of 1840, John and
Henry Baylor, along with a cousin, joined in a pursuit of a band of Comanches.
Over the next several months they took part in several other pursuits and
battles against these ruthless Indians. It was here that John apparently began
to develop a deep and unabiding hatred of Indians, which would later lead him to
advocate harsh measures against them, and finally cost him the governorship of
Arizona.

During General Adrian Wollís invasion of
Texas in 1842, John and Henry Baylor served with Captain Nicholas Mosby Dawsonís
Company of Texas Cavalry. They became separated from the company during a sudden
rise of the waters of Peach Creek, which probably saved their lives, for Captain
Dawsonís Company was wiped out nearly to a man at the Battle of Salado
(September 18, 1842).

Perhaps shaken by this close brush with death,
John now decided to leave Texas. He rejoined his mother, who had recently moved
back to Fort Gibson in the Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). Mrs. Baylor
had arrived at Fort Gibson in January 1842, and she now operated a boarding
house for officers. Baylorís brother-in-law, Captain James Lowes Dawson, was
now the government agent for the Creek Indians, and helped John to secure an
appointment to establish a school for Creek Indian youths. Beginning on July 1,
1843, John served as teacher at the new school, where for the next year he
endeavored to teach as many as 35 scholars.

However, events beyond Johnís control were
about to send him back to Texas. On July 8, 1844, John was present when Captain
Dawson became involved in a fight which resulted in the death of Dawsonís
opponent. John apparently had no direct role in this event, but both he and
Captain Dawson were arrested and charged with the murder. Both soon managed to
escape, however, and fled to Texas.

John settled in Marshall, Texas, where he
shortly met and fell in love with Miss Emily Hanna. The romance blossomed, and
on March 27, 1845 John and Emily were united in marriage at Marshall. Shortly
after the marriage they were to be found at Rose Prairie, Fayette County, Texas,
where by 1850 John R. Baylor is listed in the Federal Census as a Farmer whose
real estate was valued at $5,500. By this time he and Emily had three sons.

Baylorís new-found affluence brought him
much respect in the local community, and in 1853 John was elected to the Fifth
Texas Legislature (November 7, 1853 to February 13, 1854), representing Fayette
County. Meanwhile, he had begun to study law, and he was admitted on August 17,
1854 to practice in the District Court of Fayette County.

John was soon involved in disputes with the
Comanche Indians that hardened his anti-Indian attitudes even further. In July
1855 he was commissioned as Special Agent and placed in charge of the Comanches
at the Brazos Agency. Baylor took his family to the agency and bought a ranch on
the Clear Fork of the Brazos in Parker County. He observed that the Comanches,
though officially settled peacefully on the Brazos Agency, continued to raid and
pillage in Texas. John was outraged by this duplicity on the part of the
Indians, and became a vocal advocate of taking harsh measures in dealing with
them. This attitude led to his replacement as Special Agent on May 18, 1857.

George H. Thomas

But Comanche depredations continued with no
apparent reaction by the government, and finally, John R. Baylor decided to take
matters into his own hand. On May 23, 1859 he raised a vigilante party of some
250 to 350 Texas frontiersmen (accounts differ as to the number) who went to the
Brazos Agency and with the intent of clearing it out.2 Baylor and his
men encountered the Commanches near the reservation and a sharp skirmish ensued
in which "several Texans and quite a number of Indians" were killed.
The defeated Commanches retreated hastily to the protection of the Reservation,
pursued by Baylor's force. The reservation garrison of United States Army
troops, commanded by Major George H. Thomas (who later became famous as a Union
General during the War Between the States), had stood by throughout this affair
and done nothing. Major Thomas now sent a message to Baylor, stating that if the
latter would withdraw his men, he would see that the Indians were removed from
the reservation to the Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). Baylor accepted
these terms, and the Texans went home.Shortly afterward, the Brazos Agency was
closed, and the Comanches were removed from Texas.3 However, the
Comanches continued their raids from their new base in Oklahoma, and Baylor was
compelled to lead other expeditions against them during 1859 and 1860.

The 1860 Census found John R. Baylor residing
in Weatherford, Texas, with his wife and seven children. John gave his
occupation as "lawyer," although he was engaged in ranching as well,
his real estate beingvalued at $2,000 and his personal
property (which included seven slaves) at $10,700. Interestingly, Johnís
younger brother George Wythe Baylor was living with him at the time, and gave
his occupation to the Census taker as "Indian Killer."

During the winter of 1860, as dire predictions
of secession and war filled the air following the election of Abraham Lincoln to
the Presidency of the United States, John and George Baylor went to San Antonio,
Texas to visit their mother, who had moved there from Fort Gibson some time ago.
On their return trip they stopped at the Texas state capital of Austin, where on
December 8, 1860 they both signed a petition calling for delegates to meet in
Austin to consider withdrawal from the Union.4

The petition drive was successful, and in late
January 1861 an election was held for delegates to the Texas Secession
Convention. Baylor was elected as a delegate to this convention, and strongly
advocated secession.5 On February 1, 1861, the Convention put the
issue to a vote, and an Ordinance of Secession was passed. On February 23, the
vote of the Secession Convention was ratified by a vote of the people of the
State, and Texas formally left the Union.

One issue that greatly concerned the Texas
secessionists was the possible reaction to the secession of Texas by the
several-thousand-strong garrison of United States troops that were stationed
there. Would they resist, and attempt to hold the State for the Union? Shortly
after the end of the Secession Convention, therefore, John R. Baylor had issued
a call for 1,000 men to take part in a "buffalo hunt on the plains."6
In reality, Baylor was recruiting a Regiment of Mounted Rifles, whose purpose
would be to confront the forces of the United States upon the secession of Texas
from the Union, should those forces decide to resist the secessionist movement
there. 7

David Twiggs

As it turned out, Baylor's force would be
unnecessary for that purpose, as the commander of the United States forces in
Texas, General David Twiggs, was a Southerner and a believer in the sovereign
right of States to secede from the Union. "If an old woman with a
broomstick should come with full authority from the State of Texas to demand the
public property, I would give it up to her," Twiggs said, and when the test
came (on February 15, 1861) he was as good as his word.8

But Baylor continued recruiting for his
Regiment, which by March 19, 1861 was fully manned and designated as the Second
Regiment of Texas Mounted Rifles. The Regiment was accepted into the Confederate
service on May 23, 1861 and divided into two Battalions, the first (of four
companies) being commanded by Colonel John S. "Rip" Ford, and the
second (of six companies) by Baylor, who was now a Lt. Colonel. Ford's Battalion
was sent south to the area around Brownsville, Texas, and Baylor's was sent to
occupy the now-abandoned Federal forts in far-west Texas.9 Unknown to
him, this assignment would soon propel him to the governorship of a new
political entity...the Confederate Territory of Arizona.

The march made by John R. Baylor and the
Second Texas Mounted Rifles through the waterless plains of west Texas was a
long one, and garrisons had to be left at several forts along the way (Camp
Hudson, and Forts Clark, Lancaster, Stockton, Davis, and Quitman). It was thus
that Baylor's force did not reach their final destination (Fort Bliss, at El
Paso, Texas) until July 1, 1861. By that time Baylor's Battalion, which had
initially numbered about 700 men, had dwindled to less than 400 due to desertion
and the need to garrison the abandoned posts along the way. 10

Baylor himself did not arrive at Fort Bliss
until July 13. Upon his arrival he became concerned by reports that large Union
forces were concentrating at Fort Filmore, near Mesilla and in easy striking
range of his post at Fort Bliss. These reports were true...Major Isaac Lynde was
already in command of over 700 men, and more were on the way from the posts in
far western Arizona, as these were abandoned as a result of the orders issued by
Colonel Edward Canby in May, 1861. Baylor also became aware of the
pro-Confederate feeling in "Arizona" (which at that time was a term
used to identify the region south of the Gila River). A strong secessionist
movement existed there, which had voted at Conventions held at Mesilla and
Tucson inMarch 1861 for the secession of Arizona from
the Union and had requested the annexation of Arizona by the Confederacy.11

Armed with this information, John R. Baylor
made a momentous decision. He would lead his tiny force in an invasion of
Arizona, defeat (and if possible capture) the Union force at Fort Filmore, and
he would support the pro-Confederate elements of the population in the creation
of a Confederate Territory of Arizona. On July 23 set out with 250 men (the
remainder of his force being left behind as a garrison at Fort Bliss) for
Mesilla.12 They crossed the Rio Grande at San Tomas, and in less than
24 hours were camped about 600 yards outside Fort Filmore. Baylor then decided
against a direct attack on the fort, recrossed the river, and entered Mesilla.

Major Lynde, upon discovering that Confederate
troops were in the town, crossed the river with his entire force and demanded
their surrender. Baylor refused, and Lynde ordered his men to attack. Union
howitzers fired a couple of shots (which did no harm to Baylor's men, but
wounded some townspeople who had gathered on a nearby hilltop to watch the
fight), and the Union cavalry formed up to charge. As they did do they were hit
by enfilade fire from one of Baylor's companies, which had taken up a concealed
position alongside the road leading into Mesilla. Three Union soldiers fell
dead, and several others were wounded. The Union cavalry retreated in disorder,
riding through their own infantry and throwing them into confusion. Major Lynde
then ordered his force to retreat back to Fort Filmore. The Confederates were
too stunned by the sudden Union retreat to follow, and the battle was over.

Baylor expected the Unionists to return the
next day, and ordered his men to fortify the town of Mesilla. But to his
amazement, the first rays of daylight on July 26 revealed columns of black smoke
rising from Fort Filmore. Major Lynde, without consulting his staff, had decided
to abandon the post and march his force to Fort Stanton, 154 miles to the
northeast. Baylor soon discerned Lynde's plan, and ordered his men on a forced
march to cut off the retreat of the Union force. Local scouts had told him of a
pass through the Organ Mountains, about 4 miles south of San Augustine Springs,
which were sure to be the first destination of Major Lynde's Union troops. If
Baylor could get there before Lynde arrived, they could cut the Yankees off from
the only available water supply in the area, and force their surrender.

Baylor's plan worked exactly as he wished.
Riding hard, Baylor's men gathered up and disarmed several hundred Union
stragglers, many of whom had foolishly filled their canteens with whiskey from
the abandoned hospital stores at Fort Filmore. They pushed on to the pass, and
when Major Lynde arrived on July 27 he found Baylor's force drawn up in line of
battle, blocking the way through the pass and access to the springs. Lynde's
force still outnumbered that of Baylor by this time, but the Union troops were
exhausted after their long, waterless march and in no condition to fight. Major
Lynde, considering his options, decided to surrender. At one fell swoop, John
Robert Baylor had captured the only significant Union force in the southern half
of the New Mexico Territory.

Returning to Mesilla, Baylor put in motion the
second part of his plan. On August 1, he issued a "Proclamation to the
People of the Territory of Arizona," which began as follows...

"The social and political condition of
Arizona being little short of general anarchy, and the people being literally
destitute of law, order, and protection, the said Territory, from the date
hereof, is hereby declared temporarily organized as a military government until
such time as Congress may otherwise provide.

I, John R. Baylor, lieutenant-colonel,
commanding the Confederate Army in the Territory of Arizona, hereby take
possession of said Territory in the name and behalf of the Confederate States of
America."13

The Confederate Territory of Arizona, as created by John R.
Baylor on 1 August 1861

The proclamation declared that the new
Confederate Territory of Arizona was to "comprise all that portion of New
Mexico lying south of the thirty-fourth parallel of north latitude." The
proclamation then went on to specify the organization of government in the new
territory. The capital of the Territory was to be at Mesilla, and there were to
be district and probate courts at Mesilla and Tucson. All laws and enactments of
the old U.S. Territory of New Mexico, not in conflict with the laws or
Constitution of theConfederate States, were to continue
in full force and effect. And of course, the proclamation named a slate of
Territorial officers who would be appointed by Baylor.

On August 2, 1861 Baylor appointed the first
officers of the new Territory. As specified in the Proclamation, Baylor himself
would be Territorial Governor. James A. Lucas of Mesilla would be Secretary of
the Territory; Marcus H. McWillie would be Attorney General; E. Augorstein would
be Treasurer; and George M. Frazier of Mesilla (who was also serving as Captain
in the local militia company, the Arizona Rangers) would be the Territorial
Marshal. By the end of August all of the Territorial offices were filled.14

And indeed, it is interesting to note that the
District Courts and Probate Courts of the new Territory were in operation almost
immediately after Baylor declared them in existence. The records of the First
District Probate Court (at Mesilla), for instance, begin on August 8, 1861,
exactly one week after Baylor's proclamation.15 Thus, within a very
short time, Confederate government in the Territory of Arizona was in operation.
It would continue to operate efficiently until the fall of the Territory to
Union forces in July 1862, a testimony to Baylorís organizational skills.

Granville Henderson Oury

Arizona's first delegate to the
Confederate Congress

It soon became apparent that the people of
Arizona were firmly behind Baylor's creation of a Confederate Territory of
Arizona. On August 28, 1861 a Convention of the People of Arizona was held at
Tucson. This convention ratified Baylor's action of August 1, and elected a
Delegate from the Territory of Arizona to the Confederate States Congress.
Granville Henderson Oury of Tucson was elected to this position (as he had at
earlier conventions in April 1860 and March 1861). Governor Baylor accepted theproceedings of this Convention, including the nomination of Oury
as Territorial Delegate, and Oury was soon his way to Richmond, there to assume
his seat in the Confederate Congress.16

Col. Edward R. S.
Canby

Union Commander in New Mexico
Territory

Upon assuming the office of Governor of the
Confederate Territory of Arizona, Baylor found himself faced with a military
situation which can only be described as grim. Baylor had only about 450 men
(250 at La Mesilla, and another 200 at Fort Bliss) with which to hold the vast
expanse of the new Territory for the Confederacy.17 Although one of
Baylorís first acts as Governor had been to muster into the Confederate
service all of the local militia companies which existed in the Territory, this
only added about 200 more men to his force. The Territory faced a myriad of
threats, both internal and external, ranging from possible invasion by the
Yankees (who had a force of approximately 2,000 men under the command of Colonel
Edward R. S. Canby at Fort Craig, about 100 miles north of La Mesilla), to raids
by Mexican Bandits from Sonora and attacks by marauding Apaches. Obviously a
force of 650 men was insufficient to meet all the demands placed upon it, and
Baylor expressed his frustration to his superiors in a letter dated September
24, 1861, part of which reads as follows...

"I would again urge the necessity of
forwarding with haste reinforcements. The Indians are exceedingly troublesome,
and the Sonora Mexicans are threatening to rob Tucson, and have robbed Tubac. As
I have before stated, I cannot, with the limited force under my command, keep
the enemy [i.e. the Yankees] in check and afford any protection to the citizens.
My opinion is that [Union] troops are on the way from California to this
Territory; but I shall do all in my power to hold the Territory against all
odds." 18

However, despite Baylorís pleas, no
reinforcements were immediately forthcoming, and the Confederates in Arizona had
to make do with their own resources. And, despite the many handicaps he faced,
Baylor did remarkably well with the limited resources at his command.

To keep the Yankees in check, Baylor sent
patrols up the Rio Grande which kept watch on the Union post at Fort Craig, and
skirmished with Yankee patrols sent down to gather intelligence on the
Confederate forces. The largest of these engagements took place on September 27,
1861, when the Yankees sent a strong reconnaissance force (consisting of two
companies of cavalryóalmost 200 menóunder the command of Captain R.M.
Morris) down toward Mesilla . This force was engaged at Canada Alamosa (about 40
miles south of Fort Craig) by approximately 100 Confederate troops under the
command of Captain Bethel Coopwood, and turned back.19 This and other
lesser skirmishes along the border between Confederate and Union-held territory
had the net effect of keeping the Yankees from getting any kind of firm picture
of the weakness of the Confederate forces facing them, and deterred their
cautious commander, Colonel Canby, from making any large attacks on the
Confederate Territory.

Apache Warriors

Unfortunately, the other threats to the new
Confederate Territory would not be so easy to manage. This was especially true
of the ever-troublesome Apaches. Governor Baylor, upon his arrival in Arizona,
foundthese ruthless Indians engaged in what one
contemporary source has called "a saturnalia of slaughter" so severe
that "it seemed the last glimmer of civilization was about to be quenched
in blood."20 This situation stemmed from the abrupt withdrawal
of the United States Army from the territory upon the outbreak of war in May
1861. The Apaches watched the soldiers go, and knowing nothing of the great
conflict which was unfolding in the lands to the east, came to believe that the
soldiers were leaving because they, themselves, had driven them out. Now they
were engaged in a war of extermination aimed at driving the Whites forever from
their domain. Wagon trains were being attacked and the people in them massacred;
mines and ranches were being attacked and burned by the Apache; and even such
large settlements as Tubac, Tucson, and Pinos Altos were either under attack, or
under threat of attack.21 The entire territory was in a state of
panic and chaos, and all looked to Governor Baylor and the Confederate Army for
their salvation.

Most of Baylorís force was occupied in
keeping watch on the Yankees, however, and he had but little to spare to pacify
the Apaches. Most of this duty fell on the local militia units which had
recently been mustered into Confederate service, especially the Arizona Guards
of Pinos Altos, who fought several successful engagements against the Apache
between August 1861 and February 1862. But as courageous and intrepid as these
Arizona militiamen were, they could not be everywhere at once, and the
depredations of the Apaches continued, more or less unabated.

Captain Sherod Hunter

Company A, Baylor's
Regiment of Arizona Rangers

One other action Baylor took in dealing with
the Apache threat was to authorize the formation of a Regiment of Arizona
Rangers. This regiment was to be patterned after the Texas Rangers with which
Baylor was familiar, and would be used for similar purposes (i.e. Indian
fighting and peace-keeping along the frontier areas of Confederate Arizona).
Recruiting for this regiment began in December 1861, when Sherod Hunter (who was
at the time a First Lieutenant in Captain George Frazierís Company of Arizona
Rangers, a militia unit based at Mesilla) was commissioned Captain and ordered
to raise the first company.22 As it turned out, Captain Sherod Hunterís
Company A, Baylorís Regiment of Arizona Rangers, would be the only one of the
proposed six to be recruited. This company was formally mustered into service on
January 25, 1862, and would see service in the Spring of 1862, not against the
Apaches, but against the Union California Column.23

Robert P. Kelley

Editor of the MESILLA TIMES

Throughout the autumn of 1861, Baylor barraged
his superiors in Richmond with letters informing them of his desperate situation
and requesting reinforcements. Baylor held no illusions about his ability either
to pacify the Apaches or to repel a full-scale invasion of the Confederate
Territory of Arizona by the large force Union force gathering at Fort Craig, and
in the late autumn of 1861, having heard nothing from his superiors and having
received no reinforcement, he began to make preparations to abandon Mesilla and
fall back into west Texas. This brought him into conflict with some of the more
hawkish elements of the local population. These people found their voice in
Robert P. Kelley, editor of the largest newspaper in Arizona, the MESILLA TIMES.24
Upon learning of Baylor's intention to abandon the Mesilla region, Kelley
launched into a "tirade of abuse" (to use George Wythe Baylor's
phraseology) against Baylor, using his editorial column as the vehicle. Baylor
allowed this to pass without response for several weeks.25 But on
December 12, 1861, Kelley printed a scathing editorial lambasting Baylor for
considering such a retreat, and strongly intimating that Baylor's actions were
due to fear rather than to military necessity.26 George Wythe Baylor
later described what happened next...

"...some of his men and officers told him
[Baylor] if he did not notice it they would. To prevent his soldiers from
getting into any difficulty with a civilian, Col. Baylor on meeting Kelley in
Bull's Store told him that his abuse must be stopped or he would make it a
personal matter. Kelley, who had been misled by the Col's forbearance, not only
refused the demand but added additional insult and drew a large bowie knife.
Col. Baylor picked up a rifle that was leaning against the wall of the store and
struck Kelley over the head, knocking him down, and sprang on him, seizing his
wrist to prevent his using his knife. Col. Baylor had just gotten up from a sick
bed, and finding Kelley was getting stronger and he weaker, told him if he did
not drop the knife he would kill him. Kelley only made a more desperate effort
to use his knife when Col. Baylor drew his revolver with his left hand and shot
him through the jaw and neck. The knife flew from his hand then, and he [Kelley]
died in a few days."27

Brigadier General Henry Hopkins Sibley

Commander of the
Confederate Army of New Mexico

Not long afterward, however, new developments
caused Baylor to abandon his planned retreat from Arizona. On January 11, 1862,
Brigadier General Henry Hopkins Sibley arrived at Mesilla with three regiments
of Texas Cavalry, grandly styled the "Army of New Mexico."28
With the arrival of this new Confederate force, Governor Baylor must have felt
that his pleas had finally been answered. But it soon became apparent, however,
that Sibley had come not in response to Baylorís pleas, but with an agenda of
hisown. And it soon became clear that he was prepared to
emasculate Baylor's force if necessary to carry out his plans.

Sibleyís plans called for an attack on the
Union force at Fort Craig, after which the Confederate army would march north to
take Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and the important post at Fort Union. And, rather
than adding to Baylorís defense force for the Confederate Territory of
Arizona, he would actually reduce it. Sibley ordered Baylor to turn over to his
command over half of his force, which would, as a battalion of mounted rifles
under the command of Major Charles Pyron, go north with Sibleyís Army.29

However, Baylor saw that Sibleyís army would
now take primary responsibility for dealing with the Yankee threat, and that
this would allow Baylor to use all his remaining resources in the pacification
of the Apaches. Baylor would now be able to take a more aggressive stance in
dealing with these troublesome Indians. However, the force at his disposal was
still woefully inadequate to pacify this threat, and Baylor grew increasingly
frustrated as he led chase after fruitless chase in pursuit of the elusive
raiders.

During one of these pursuits Baylor used a
tactic that would later cost him his governorship, when he ordered it used by
all the forces under his command. In January 1862, Chiricahua Apaches ran off
100 horses belonging to the Confederate Army, driving the stock into Mexico.
Governor Baylor immediately set out in pursuit of them with a large force.
Baylor doggedly pursued the trail deep into the Mexican state of Chihuahua,
until finally he reached to town of Corralitos (about 100 miles south of the
international line). There he captured nine Apaches (one man, three women, and
five children). Declaring his belief that it was "justifiable in killing
the Indians and recovering the animals," Baylor executed the adults and
took thechildren as prisoners.30

Village of the Pima Indians, fierce foes of the Apache who
Baylor sought to enlist as allies

Governor Baylor, seeing that military force
alone would not solve the problem of the Apaches, determined to use other means
as well. First, he sent Captain Sherod Hunter into Western Arizona with orders
to negotiate treaties with the Pima and Papago Indians, long-time enemies of the
Apache.31 Hunter and his command arrived in Tucson on February 28,
1862. There is some reason to believe that his arrival may have deterred a major
attack on the town by the Apaches, although this is not certain. At any rate,
Hunter sent his men out on patrols to pacify the surrounding area, and for a
little while, at least, Tucson felt safe from the threat of Indian attack.32

On March 3, Hunter proceeded to the Pima
villages, located on the Gila River, near the site of the present day town of
Sacaton. He met with the Chief of the Pimas, Antonio Azul, and, in pursuit of
his orders, made a treaty for mutual defense against the Apaches.33 There is
little doubt that the treaty would have been of great use but for the fact that
the Confederate Territory of Arizona collapsed shortly after it was negotiated.
Governor Baylor's essay into diplomacy thus proved devoid of results.

Finally, desperate to find a solution to the
Apache menace, Governor Baylor decided upon a policy of extermination. He issued
an order on March 20, 1862 specifying that Confederate commanders in the
Territory were to "use all means to persuade the Apaches or any tribe to
come in for the purpose of making peace, and when you get them together kill all
the grown Indians and take the children prisoners and sell them to defray the
expense of killing the adult Indians. Buy whiskey and such other goods as may be
necessary for the Indians and I will order vouchers given to cover the amount
expended. Leave nothing undone to insure success, and have a sufficient number
of men around to allow no Indian to escape."34 Baylor also may
have instructed that poisoned food should be left for Indian consumption,
although this is not certain.35 Whether any of Baylor's subordinates
actually carried out their Governor's dastardly plans is unknown. There is no
record that any of them did so, at any rate.

However, Baylorís Apache troubles were soon
to fade into the background as news of a disaster suffered by General Sibleyís
forces at the Battle of Glorieta Pass reached Baylorís capital at Mesilla.
Sibleyís Army of New Mexico had, as earlier mentioned, marched north to invade
and conquer those part of the old U.S. Territory of New Mexico which were still
under Union control. After winning a major battle against the Union forces at
Valverde in February 1862, Sibley marched north, took Albuquerque and Sante Fe,
and by March 20, 1862 stood ready to make the final assault on the vital U.S.
post at Fort Union (in the mountains east of Sante Fe). 36

On March 28, 1862, the Army of New Mexico met
a strong Union force at Glorieta Pass (a few miles west of Fort Union), and
although they won a great tactical victory on the battlefield, they suffered a
major strategic defeat when a small Union force managed to get into the rear of
the Confederate force and fall upon the Confederate wagon train, which they
destroyed. Almost all of the supplies necessary for the continuance of the
campaign went up in smoke, and the Confederates were left with no alternative
but to retreat back to Mesilla.37

Events progressed rapidly from that point.
Shortly after news of the Confederate disaster at Glorieta reached him, Baylor
learned that Union forces were invading the Confederate Territory of Arizona
from California. Captain Sherod Hunter, stationed at Tucson, informed him that
the California Column, a Union brigade of approximately 2,300 infantry and
cavalry, had entered Arizona and was threatening Baylorís western flank.
Hunterís activities had bought some precious time for the Confederates in
Arizona...Hunter had confiscated and distributed back to the Indians a store of
grain which had been accumulated for the use of the Union forces at the Pima
villages, and Hunterís men had also severely mauled a Union scouting force at
the Battle of Picacho Pass, leading their cautious commander, Colonel Joseph
West, to tarry at the villages for a month while supplies were gathered and
reinforcements were brought up...but it was clear that thehandwriting
was on the wall for Confederate hopes in Arizona.38

When the pitiful remnants of Sibleyís Army
of New Mexico finally arrived back in Mesilla in late April 1862, it must have
been apparent to Baylor that the end was in sight. Baylor maintained himself at
Mesilla through May and June of 1862, but by end of that month had left for San
Antonio. The last Confederate troops would evacuate the Mesilla region in early
July 1862, and with their going, the Confederate Territory of Arizona ceased to
exist.39

When the Territory fell, some Confederate
leaders were willing to abandon it. For example, General Sibley, whose
Confederate Army of New Mexico had suffered disaster in Arizona, stated his own
belief that Arizona and New Mexico were "not worth a quarter of the blood
and treasure which had been expended" for their conquest and defense, and
many other Confederate leaders shared his view.40

However, John Robert Baylor thought otherwise,
and in this he was supported by the many Arizona secessionists who ardently
desired to see Arizona liberated from the rule of the hated Yankees. With their
support, Baylor began to work to raise a new army with which he would invade and
recapture Arizona for the Confederacy.41

Baylor had received orders on April 14, 1862
from George W. Randolph, Confederate Secretary of War, instructing him as
follows...

"You are authorized to enlist volunteers
in Arizona Territory and to muster them into service, singly or by companies,
for three years or the war, to be organized as soon as a sufficient number of
companies are mustered into a regiment, electing field officers. You will
continue to organize regiments under this authority until a brigade has been
raised for the defense of the Territory."42

Armed with this authority, Baylor began
preparations to raise this new "Arizona Brigade" almost immediately
after his arrival in San Antonio, Texas, sometime in July 1862. Baylor set up
his headquarters at Eagle Lake, Texas (located between San Antonio and Houston),
and began to organize and recruit.43 He planned to raise five
Battalions of Mounted Rifles, each of 500 men, for a total of 2,000 men in the
brigade. Recruiting went well, and by December 1862 Baylor already had 1,500 of
the planned 2,000 men signed up. However, arming and equipping the men had
proved to be extremely difficult, with the result that only three companies
(about 300 men total) had been armed, and those "indifferently" at
that.44

President Jefferson Davis

However, just when Baylor's plans for the
re-capture of Arizona seemed about to mature, he was suddenly removed from
command. News of Baylor's March 1862 order for the extermination of the Apache
Indians had only just reached the Confederate Government in Richmond, and
President Jefferson Davis was outraged when he heard of it. He immediately
removed Baylor from his post as Governor of Arizona, stripped him of his rank,
and cashiered him from the Army.45

Baylor, as befitted his nature, did not take
this affront without protest. The manner of his protest was, to say the least,
unique. On December 29, 1862, he wrote to Major General John Bankhead Magruder,
commander of the Department of Texas. With his letter he sent an Apache shield,
taken from a chief who had been killed by Baylor personally. The shield was
decorated with a scalp, which Baylor's accompanying note described as "a
woman's fair tresses--those of a Miss Jackson, who had been murdered during one
of the frequent raids."46 According to George Wythe Baylor's
postwar account, the shield was also decorated with the scalps of little
infants, "dressed like the skin of some animal, painted with bright colors
and ornamented with beads."47 Baylor requested that the shield
"be sent to His Excellency the President, to enable him to judge whether
there is not some cause for the bitter feelings I, in common with the people of
our frontier, entertain toward the Indians."48 Magruder's
reaction at receiving this grisly talisman can only be imagined. All we know for
sure is that he did not forward it on to President Davis, and managed to
persuade Baylor to take back both his note and his "gift."49

It appeared that Baylor's Confederate career
was over, but this was not so. Shortly after his removal from command of the
Arizona Brigade, Baylor enlisted as a private in one of the Texas cavalry
regiments serving in the Galveston campaign of January 1863.50 Later
that same year he ran for and won election to the Confederate Congress, where he
served until the end of the war, tirelessly promoting efforts to gain
Confederate Government support for the recapture of Arizona from the Yankees.51

In December 1864, Baylorís passionate
entreaties finally bore fruit, in a way. He proposed sending a force of 2,500
Texans to retake New Mexico and Arizona for the Confederacy. Baylor argued that
as many as 10,000 Confederate sympathizers could be recruited in northern Mexico
and Arizona to support this effort, and (surprisingly, considering his history
of anti-Indian rhetoric and action) that an alliance with the Plains Indians
could be made which would break the lines of communication between Missouri and
the far west, thus isolating the Union forces there from reinforcement and maybe
even forcing them to deploy troops from Arizona to counter the Indian threat.
Amazingly, this wild proposal fell on sympathetic (and perhaps desperate) ears
in the Confederate War Department, who passed it along to President Davis. And
again, in a surprising move, Davis agreed. 52

Therefore, on March 25, 1865, John Robert
Baylor once again was commissioned as an officer in the Confederate States Army,
with the rank of Colonel.53 He was given permission to recruit in the
frontier counties of Texas, and was shortly on the road, heading for his new
assignment. Eight days later, General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern
Virginia were forced to abandon Richmond, and seven days after that, to
surrender at Appomattox Courthouse.

By the time Baylor reached Shreveport,
Louisiana on May 14, he found the Army of the Trans-Mississippi in the process
of disintegration. Baylor proceeded on into Texas, where in Houston he found
soldiers deserting in droves. Clearly, the Confederacy was dead, but not yet
buried. It would be only a matter of time before that, too, would occur.

Baylor continued his journey, however, and at
Huntsville, he found a crowd of soldiers in the early stages of a riot and
threatening to storm the State Prison, where it was believed the Confederate
Government held large stocks of clothing which had never been issued to the
troops. Baylor, clad in "a long linen duster" and armed with an
ivory-handled revolver, attempted to calm the angry men by praising their war
service. When this did not work, Baylor placed his hand on his revolver and
shouted, "Iíll be damned if you will rob your State. I will protect her
property!" For a few moments nobody moved, and then the crowd began to
disperse.54 A few days later General Edmund Kirby Smith surrendered
the Confederate Army of the Trans-Mississippi, and the war was over.

After the war John R. Baylor settled first in
San Antonio, then at Montell, Uvalde County, Texas, where he worked as a rancher
and continued his political career. His maverick behavior continued to provide
copy for journalists for years after the war. He was involved in more than one
gunfight, and at least one knife fight (an 1881 affair in which he killed a man
named Gilchrist on the streets of Uvalde, Texas by stabbing him through the
heart) during the postwar years. Following the incident at Uvalde, he was
described by the local newspaper as "a man who does not seek a fight, but
is always ready to defend himself whenever the occasion requires." He died
on February 8, 1894 and is buried at Montell, Texas. 55

John Robert Baylor was a product of the wild
Texas frontier, and although some of the actions taken by him may seem
outlandish, foreign, or even brutal to us today, we should remember the context
of the times in which he lived. It was a time and place where a man survived by
being willing to take the lives of others in defense of his person and property,
and Baylor showed that he was up to that challenge on many occasions. But he
should be remembered for much more than that. It is due to his efforts that
Arizonaís dream of separate territorial status became a reality. Without the
creation of the Confederate Territory of Arizona, it seems unlikely that the
U.S. Territory would have been created in 1863. And if it had, either in 1863 or
at a different date, it certainly would have had different borders. Indeed, it
is quite possible that without him, todayís Arizona would not even exist. If
for no other reason than this, we should remember John Robert Baylor, Arizonaís
first and only active Confederate Governor.

Some clipart on this page was used courtesy of

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The music file of "The
Yellow Rose of Texas" was composed and is copyrighted by Barry Taylor. Great, ain't it? For more great midi files like this one, check out THE CONTEMPLATOR'S FOLK MUSIC SITE.